Most of the time I share “pretty” things on my blog – like decor or design projects. But sometimes projects that aren’t as “Instagram worthy” (as the kids say these days), are the ones that deserve the most love because they’re actually useful! That’s how I feel about this DIY Hanging Mason Jar Storage project, which is a BRILLIANT* way to gain some extra storage space for small things by using the space above your head (or under a cabinet or shelf, perhaps)! (*No, I’m not full of myself calling this project brilliant – it was my husband’s idea so he’s the brilliant one!)

We installed our hanging mason jar storage in our utility room and filled the jars with screws and such, but you could use the exact same concept to store things like spices, craft supplies, and all other small odds and ends! Keep reading to see just how easy this is to make!

How to Make DIY Hanging Mason Jar Storage

Begin by cutting a wood strip to the correct length (and depth, if necessary), for the space in which you plan to hang it.

Next, drill pilot holes into the mason jar lids.

Place the lids onto the wood strip and screw them into place.

Once all of the lids are in place, screw the wood strip into the ceiling or area where you want to hang it. Make sure to securely attach it to the ceiling! Find your studs and/or get anchors that will hold the weight! Obviously you don’t want this to come crashing down on your head. Ouch.

Put the objects you’re storing into the jars and screw them onto the lids!

Add labels to the bottoms of the mason jars to help you identify the contents of the jars.

And that is IT. So incredibly easy and such a great way to maximize space that would normally go unused!

Before making this hanging mason jar storage system, we had boxes of screws and nails all over the place. It was such a mess! This truly helped us get our utility room area under control.

One of the most rewarding DIY projects my husband and I have completed is the building of a custom backyard fire pit in our family’s tiny backyard. Spending time together relaxing, roasting marshmallows, and eating way too many s’mores is the perfect way to enjoy summer and fall evenings! This backyard fire pit posed some construction challenges, but at the end of the day, it was not a difficult project, and it’s one that YOU can do, too! Let me walk you through it all. . .

How to Build a Custom Backyard Fire Pit

Before Beginning Work – Things to Consider

Before you build a fire pit in your backyard, there are a few things to take into consideration. The first is whether there are any buried cables in the area that you need to be careful of when digging. The second is if your city, town, village, whatever has any codes or regulations that will impact your project. And the third is whether your fire pit will negatively impact any neighbors (smoke sensitivities, etc.). Think about all of this before beginning work to ensure a happy fire pit experience!

Phase One: Clear the Land

Once you have those things figured out, the first step in all of this is to clear out the area where you’re placing the fire pit. As you can see from this picture, we had a lot of plants (namely, giant hosta, which are difficult to remove), to clear.

Once the plants were removed, we got to work raking up the area and getting the ground level. The kids got involved in this part of the project, which was fun!

We used our level to make sure we got the ground as flat and as even as we could, and then we laid down the landscape weed barrier fabric to prevent vegetation (like those darn hosta), from growing up around our eventual fire pit.

Next, we figured out where we wanted the fire pit, and used chalk to make a circle several inches wider than the galvanized fire ring. Then we cut that circle out of the landscape barrier.

You might be wondering why we used a galvanized fire ring in our fire pit construction, when many other fire pit tutorials do not use one. The main reason is that we wanted our fire pit to be extra durable and for the landscape bricks not to get charred by the flames. One other benefit of using the fire ring is that you can purchase accessories, like grill grates and fire pit screens, that fit perfectly over the fire ring. Finally, we also thought it made it easier to create a perfect circle with the landscape bricks. While this added a little extra cost to the construction, it was worth it in our minds.

Phase Two: Preparing the Ground for Landscape Bricks

The next step was to fill in the circle with paver base. Once that was poured, my husband got to work with the tamper, pounding it down and getting a level surface that was slightly lower than the surrounding ground.

Next, we poured paver sand around the perimeter the circle – so where the galvanized fire ring and the landscape bricks would sit. We again used the tamper to make that paver sand flat.

Then we placed the galvanized fire ring into the paver sand, using a mallet to pound it into the paver sand, paver base, and ground ever so slightly, and we laid our first row of landscape bricks around the fire ring. NOTE: see how we left a space of about 2.5″ between the fire ring and the landscape bricks? This is important because if you place the landscape bricks right against the ring, by the time you get to the top row of landscape bricks, they will be too close to the fire ring and will be jutting out farther than your base row of bricks. You will have to disassemble and start over. (Prior to gluing our bricks together, we stacked all four rows to see how this would work, and it didn’t! That’s how we knew to put that space between the fire ring and the landscape bricks at the bottom.)

Once the first row of landscape bricks was laid, it was time to move onto the next row. We used DAP DynaGrip adhesive to hold our bricks together. We simply applied it to the stones and pressed them down, making sure to stagger them rather than laying them directly one on top of the other.

We repeated this process two more times, making our fire pit four rows of landscape bricks high. Note that once the landscaping went in, the first row of bricks was essentially “underground.”

Over the following weeks, I spent time landscaping around the area to make it look nicer. I will be writing up a post on that process, too!

This project took us about 8 hours to complete, and that included ripping out all the pre-existing landscape and running to Home Depot a few times for extra supplies. At the end of the day I can honestly say that if you’ve ever thought about adding a fire pit to your backyard, you should go for it! It brings a huge element of fun to your outdoor space and is a wonderful memory maker for your family and friends.

I’d appreciate it if you’d pin this post to help others find out how to make their own backyard fire pits!

I hope I’m not jinxing it by saying that spring has finally arrived in Chicago, but with beautiful sunshine and temps in the 70’s, I think it’s safe to say that winter is gone! I, for one, could not be happier! I am really looking forward to sprucing up my backyard and patio this season, and I have the first project to share with you – my new outdoor hula hoop wreath! Yes – I turned a hula hoop into a large outdoor wreath and I’m going to show you how to make one for your outdoor space, too!

I wish I had some pretty backyard shots to show you, but my grass is barely growing, I have no flowers, and everything still looks kind of blah. So you’ll just have to see my wreath for now and check back later in the season to see how it looks with the rest of my backyard setup!

How to Make an Outdoor Hula Hoop Wreath

When I started, my hula hoop looked like this – it had a bright pattern all over it.

The pattern was just tape, so I peeled it all off to reveal a plain, brown hula hoop. Not so good for kids, but perfect for my wreath! If your hula hoop is not decorated with tape, you could spray paint it to get a solid color.

I started to transform the hula hoop into a wreath by attaching pieces of faux greenery to the hoop with Gorilla Tape. This tape worked perfectly because it is the same color as the hula hoop and because it is SO STRONG and waterproof – perfect for outdoors!

After I had a first layer of greenery on the hula hoop, I attached a different type of greenery to the hula hoop – also with the Gorilla Tape. The first type of greenery had large leaves; the second had small leaves and tiny white flowers.

Then, I used floral wire to wire in some faux lemons. I liked the pop of color the lemons added. Plus, they’re summery and fun. (If lemons leave a sour taste in your mouth, skip them. :-))

Once I had everything on the hula hoop, I took it outside and sprayed it with UV Floral Protectant. You know how faux flowers can become a really strange color when they’re left outside? I do not want that to happen to my hula hoop wreath, so I made sure to protect them! I want those vibrant colors to last!

After that dried, I cut some rope and fastened it to the top part of the hula hoop (where the greenery doesn’t show), with the Gorilla Tape.

I then hung the hula hoop wreath from the side garage door (I have a detached garage that is next to my patio), with fishing line. I put the hook on the inside of the side door and strung the fishing line over it so that the wreath hanger is not visible on the door.

This outdoor hula hoop wreath is super cute and was such an inexpensive way to add a decorative touch to my (currently) bare patio area!

Now I just hope some flowers bloom out there soon so we can really enjoy the patio and its pretty colors!

-Bre

Looking For More Outdoor Ideas? How About These?

Last week was spring break for my kids and we had a lot of fun with little adventures and taking it easy at home! Being on more of a relaxed schedule gave me some extra time to get little projects done around the house, like repainting the mirror that hangs in my foyer. Here’s what it looked like, pre-paint job.

I purchased that mirror right before my daughter (first child) was born – thinking that once she arrived I would never again have time to go to a store in my life. So I rushed into the purchase and bought the first thing I found to fill the wall. Needless to say, the faux silver finish wasn’t really doing it for me anymore (ever, really!), and with our foyer freshly repainted and new brass ceiling light on the way, I needed to give the mirror some pep!

The problem was that I couldn’t get the mirror out of the mirror frame! I tried really hard but it just would not budge. Whoever made it did a great job with the glue. Having spent a lot of time trying to get the mirror out, I was invested at this point and ready to paint! So I figured out a SUPER EASY way to paint a mirror frame without removing the mirror, and I didn’t even damage the mirror in the process!

You won’t believe this trick. I rubbed Aquaphor all along the edges where the mirror met the mirror frame.

The reason I used Aquaphor is because it’s what I had on hand. You could absolutely use Vaseline or petroleum jelly, which is cheaper than Aquaphor! (Funny note about Aquaphor: I became addicted to it in college when I went on Accutane for my major acne problem. It saved my lips and my skin from burning to a crisp! Now I always have it at home, and I use it for everything!)

See that nice line of Aquaphor all around the mirror? It saved me during this mirror painting project!

Now that you know the trick of how to paint a mirror frame without removing the mirror, let me show you how I repainted my mirror and another fun way I used Aquaphor in this project! I started by painting the mirror with a red chalk paint. Notice that I got some paint on the mirror, but on the parts where the Aquaphor covered the glass.

After that paint dried, I used Aquaphor to help create a distressed finish on the mirror frame. Watch this video to see just how easy it is to distress painted furniture with Aquaphor or Vaseline!

Although the section I distressed in the video isn’t very dramatic, you can definitely use Aquaphor or Vaseline to make the distressed areas more prominent, like on other parts of this mirror.

After all the paint dried, I used a flat head screwdriver to gently remove any paint that made its way onto the mirror. It came up instantly because of the Aquaphor! I just wiped it up with a paper towel and then used glass cleaner to remove any residue.

It was so easy to remove the metallic finish on this mirror and give it a new look. But hey, guess what? I’m not sure I like the new look so I may repaint again!

Even though I’m undecided on the actual paint job, I can’t believe how easy it is to paint a mirror frame without removing the mirror! So, I’m not all that worried about repainting it if I still don’t love it after a month or so.

What do you think? Do you like the two-tone distressed finish, or do you think it would look better as a solid color?

I realize that what I’m about to say is putting my chance* of becoming your next home décor and DIY tv superstar at risk. (*A .0001% chance that has now been decreased to .00000000000000001%.) But I’m breaking up with you. And it’s not me, it’s you.

The time has come for me to lay it all out there. You see (though you might not know it), our love affair began years ago when I, on maternity leave, found myself spending hours on the couch nursing and rocking my newborn baby girl. In my half-alive state at that time, you took me off of that couch (in my spit-up covered shirt, messy ponytail hair, and makeup-less face), and put me in the middle of a world that was colorful, engaging, and exciting.

You put on your finest clothes and wooed me with shows like Curb Appeal, Selling New York, Bang for Your Buck, Design on a Dime, and Sarah’s House. Your hosts’ sparkling personalities and shows’ interesting topics made my long days and nights so much more bearable. The way John Gidding could turn the ugliest front yards into works of art on Curb Appeal was captivating! Suddenly I wanted to re-do my yard, too! And don’t even get me started with the adorable Sarah Richardson and her innate ability to mix pattern and color on Sarah’s House. (Plus, her sidekick, Tommy Smythe, was so cute I could pinch his cheeks.) Those two inspired me to start decorating my new/old home with quirky accents and things I loved.

In those days, you and your shows worked hard to fill me with hope and a desire to make the spaces around me more beautiful, but in an affordable and realistic way. Your programming was diverse and unique, and I was a self-proclaimed HGTV junkie. I’m sure you even had something to do with me starting this little blog.

But time has a way of changing things, and our relationship has soured. HGTV, you’ve let yourself go. You have lost yourself (or, at the very least, the “G” in HGTV – do you even have a show about gardens or landscaping anymore?). With yesterday’s announcement that you’ve added yet another house flipping show to your lineup (Windy City Flip, with the painfully bland host, Alison Victoria (does she not have a last name?)), I realized you have cheated on me and your other loyal viewers with the devil of cheap and formulaic programming.

By my count, you now have at least NINE house flipping shows that all follow the exact same formula: man and woman buy godforsaken home, gut it, find x amount of “awful problems,” install some cheap finishes, and then sell it two weeks later. Do you really have that many viewers who are out flipping houses? I don’t think so!

And don’t get me started on the FOURTEEN versions of House Hunters. At least with those you’ve tried to fool me into thinking you’re still interesting by giving some of them different names (like Beachfront Bargain Hunt, Caribbean Life, Island Hunters, Mexico Life, and Lakefront Bargain Hunt), and forsaking the trademark doorbell ringing sound in the opening credits.

Now that Chip & JoJo have jumped ship, you have nothing left to offer me. HGTV you are boring and unimaginative, and this is the end. It was good while it lasted, but now you can pack your boxes and exit stage left. Me – I’ll be fine sitting here on my couch with my messy ponytail and makeup-less face (the babies are grown so no spit-up anymore), watching another network.

-Bre

P.S. to any readers who feel the same way, please share this post on Facebook or Pin it! Maybe HGTV will see it and get it together! 🙂

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Hi, I'm Bre! Thanks for visiting my blog. I hope you'll find ideas to inspire your creativity and beautify your home. If this is your first visit, check out the Popular Posts tab at the top of the page to see some of the best of Average But Inspired!

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